Macy's to open this weekend

Terry Lundgren, Chairman, President and CEO of Federated Department Stores, Inc. pushes down on a plunger, releasing confetti into the streets of St. Louis to mark the beginning of the Macy's era on Friday. (UPI Photo/Bill Greenblatt)

By Bill Raack, KWMU

St. Louis, MO. – The long-awaited debut of Macy's department stores in the St. Louis area is set to take place this weekend.

Federated, which is Macy's parent company, bought May Department Stores last year.

The company is unveiling its new identity at 16 stores in Missouri and seven in Illinois.

Macy's spokesman Nathan Shore says customers of the former Famous-Barr stores will see differences in private-label apparel and the overall shopping experience.

"Our stores have wider aisles, they're easier to navigate, they're less cluttered, they're cleaner, brighter," Shore said. "Really, the things that we heard from our customers we've put into place and really tried to make that, improve the shopping experience and really make our stores more shoppable."

Shore says Macy's employs 3,700 associates at stores across the St. Louis area plus 1,000 workers at its regional offices downtown.